Tiny Devotional for Saturday, 07-01-2023

 A great good morning to all my friends and neighbors in Internet Land! And to family members who have dropped by, we’re getting so much closer to an empty nest!


The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 1:7, NASB

I just wrote about ‘fear of the Lord,’ and I’m doing it again. Why? A couple of years ago, I decided I was going to write sequentially, going verse by verse.  I’d been choosing a favorite verse in the Proverb of the Day  to write about, and realized I might fall into the error of transforming the Bible, using my preferences as a guide, when what I desire is to transform myself, using the Bible as a guide. Thus, when 1:7 comes up in the rotation, it doesn’t matter that I covered the topic in 23:17; I write on what is before me, looking for something new to say.

Three related, but different, concepts: 

Knowledge (דַּעַת ,daʿaṯ ) is being in possession of facts. God is AWESOME; we are not. That’s the first fact, but not the last.

Wisdom (חָכְמָה  , ḥāḵmâ) is prudent application of knowledge.

Instruction (מוּסָר , mûsār) provides correction, and new knowledge.

Fools LOVE having facts! They grab one at random (it seems) and use it to show everyone how smart they are. Well, you can’t argue with the facts, right? So, fools LOVE facts!

A fool is NOT fond of wisdom! Wisdom takes the thread of the fact in the fool’s possession, weaves it with OTHER facts, and shows how they link to form a coherent picture. 

As for instruction, that’s a non-starter for the fool. He doesn’t NEED instruction; he’s got a FACT!

(I’m late for the men’s meeting!)

Peace be on your household.

Comments

  1. AnonymousJuly 1, 2023 at 6:39 AM

    Now this is wisdom speaking.

    ReplyDelete
  2. On Christ the Solid Rock I StandJuly 4, 2023 at 3:46 AM

    What every person needs is to Fear of the Lord. Amen my Brother Pat!

    ReplyDelete

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